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thatcrazycajunThanks for the tip to filkertom and shelleybear: Bobby "Boris" Pickett, who recorded what has come to be considered the unofficial national anthem of Halloween, "Monster Mash," the year before I was born (1962), has now passed into zombiehood himself. Yahoo! News reports his obit here. He was 69 and died of leukemia, which I had not a clue that he had contracted, at West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital yesterday, his daughter and sister by his side. Every year, radio's Dr. Demento Show plays "Monster Mash" as part of the show's annual two-part Halloween special, and it is invariably #1 in the Funny Five of most-requested songs for those two weeks. It also gets played a lot on more mainstream radio stations around about that time of year. (It actually made #1 on the Billboard charts three separate times over two decades.)
In addition to "Monster Mash" and two sequels, "It's Alive" and "Monsters' Holiday," Pickett also recorded one of the more memorable parodies of Star Trek (The Original Series) extant, "Star Drek," with Peter Ferrara a bit later on in 1975; the Mad Music Archive has a transcript here. The Toyes (of "Smoke Two Joints" fame), another longtime Demento staple, later parodied Pickett's signature song with a more hallucinogenically-themed lyric in "Monster Hash," showing what an enduring classic the original was.
Bobby had the grace and class to be grateful for the fame and royalties, even if he was pegged as a "one-hit wonder." He even had a sense of humor about it; Dr. D. reports that the man used to say in his live shows before doing The Song, "Now I will play a medley of my hit." He also denied being sick of hearing it, saying, "Every time I hear the song, I hear a cash register ringing."
At least he is out of pain and suffering at last. Sleep sweet, Mr. P., and thanks for decades of demented spooky laughs.
filkertom and shelleybear: Bobby "Boris" Pickett, who recorded what has come to be considered the unofficial national anthem of Halloween, "Monster Mash," the year before I was born (1962), has now passed into zombiehood himself. Yahoo! News reports his obit here. He was 69 and died of leukemia, which I had not a clue that he had contracted, at West Los Angeles Veterans Hospital yesterday, his daughter and sister by his side. Every year, radio's Dr. Demento Show plays "Monster Mash" as part of the show's annual two-part Halloween special, and it is invariably #1 in the Funny Five of most-requested songs for those two weeks. It also gets played a lot on more mainstream radio stations around about that time of year. (It actually made #1 on the Billboard charts three separate times over two decades.)In addition to "Monster Mash" and two sequels, "It's Alive" and "Monsters' Holiday," Pickett also recorded one of the more memorable parodies of Star Trek (The Original Series) extant, "Star Drek," with Peter Ferrara a bit later on in 1975; the Mad Music Archive has a transcript here. The Toyes (of "Smoke Two Joints" fame), another longtime Demento staple, later parodied Pickett's signature song with a more hallucinogenically-themed lyric in "Monster Hash," showing what an enduring classic the original was.
Bobby had the grace and class to be grateful for the fame and royalties, even if he was pegged as a "one-hit wonder." He even had a sense of humor about it; Dr. D. reports that the man used to say in his live shows before doing The Song, "Now I will play a medley of my hit." He also denied being sick of hearing it, saying, "Every time I hear the song, I hear a cash register ringing."
At least he is out of pain and suffering at last. Sleep sweet, Mr. P., and thanks for decades of demented spooky laughs.
